diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 969e4e5..e18c07a 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ go 1.23.0
 require (
 	github.com/cespare/xxhash/v2 v2.3.0
 	github.com/go-kit/log v0.2.1
-	github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack v0.5.5
+	github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2 v2.1.3
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.1.1
 	github.com/hashicorp/memberlist v0.5.3
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.22.0
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/hashicorp/errwrap v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-immutable-radix v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-metrics v0.5.4 // indirect
-	github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2 v2.1.1 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-sockaddr v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/go-uuid v1.0.1 // indirect
 	github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru v0.5.1 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index f4cd5d2..25fc90d 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -59,10 +59,8 @@ github.com/hashicorp/go-immutable-radix v1.0.0 h1:AKDB1HM5PWEA7i4nhcpwOrO2byshxB
 github.com/hashicorp/go-immutable-radix v1.0.0/go.mod h1:0y9vanUI8NX6FsYoO3zeMjhV/C5i9g4Q3DwcSNZ4P60=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-metrics v0.5.4 h1:8mmPiIJkTPPEbAiV97IxdAGNdRdaWwVap1BU6elejKY=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-metrics v0.5.4/go.mod h1:CG5yz4NZ/AI/aQt9Ucm/vdBnbh7fvmv4lxZ350i+QQI=
-github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack v0.5.5 h1:i9R9JSrqIz0QVLz3sz+i3YJdT7TTSLcfLLzJi9aZTuI=
-github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack v0.5.5/go.mod h1:ahLV/dePpqEmjfWmKiqvPkv/twdG7iPBM1vqhUKIvfM=
-github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2 v2.1.1 h1:xQEY9yB2wnHitoSzk/B9UjXWRQ67QKu5AOm8aFp8N3I=
-github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2 v2.1.1/go.mod h1:upybraOAblm4S7rx0+jeNy+CWWhzywQsSRV5033mMu4=
+github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2 v2.1.3 h1:cB1w4Zrk0O3jQBTcFMKqYQWRFfsSQ/TYKNyUUVyCP2c=
+github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2 v2.1.3/go.mod h1:SjlwKKFnwBXvxD/I1bEcfJIBbEJ+MCUn39TxymNR5ZU=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.1.1 h1:H5DkEtf6CXdFp0N0Em5UCwQpXMWke8IA0+lD48awMYo=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.1.1/go.mod h1:iw975J/qwKPdAO1clOe2L8331t/9/fmwbPZ6JB6eMoM=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp v0.5.3/go.mod h1:9B5zBasrRhHXnJnui7y6sL7es7NDiJgTc6Er0maI1Xs=
diff --git a/internal/messages/messages.go b/internal/messages/messages.go
index dfd999e..e619b6f 100644
--- a/internal/messages/messages.go
+++ b/internal/messages/messages.go
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"fmt"
 
-	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/codec"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2/codec"
 )
 
 // magicHeader is added to the start of every message.
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ func (t Type) String() string {
 
 // Message is a payload that can be gossiped to other peers.
 type Message interface {
+	// Messages must implement [codec.MissingFielder] to ensure forwards
+	// compatibility with newer versions of ckit that add new fields to messages,
+	// so that older versions of ckit can rebroadcast messages without dropping
+	// unknown fields.
+	codec.MissingFielder
+
 	// Type returns the Type of the message. Type must be a known, valid type.
 	Type() Type
 
diff --git a/internal/messages/messages_test.go b/internal/messages/messages_test.go
index cdbc9e4..a29d261 100644
--- a/internal/messages/messages_test.go
+++ b/internal/messages/messages_test.go
@@ -49,10 +49,88 @@ func TestMessages_Invalid(t *testing.T) {
 	require.EqualError(t, err, "invalid magic header ddff")
 }
 
+// TestMessages_ForwardCompatibility ensures that older versions of ckit can
+// decode messages from newer versions of ckit (where message introduced new
+// files) while also re-encoding those messages with the fields retained.
+//
+// This ensures that gossiping messages between different versions of ckit does
+// not silently drop fields that were added in newer versions.
+func TestMessages_ForwardCompatibility(t *testing.T) {
+	type (
+		oldMessage struct {
+			fakeMessage
+
+			Address string
+		}
+
+		newMessage struct {
+			fakeMessage
+
+			Address string
+			Version int
+		}
+	)
+
+	expect := newMessage{
+		fakeMessage: newFakeMessage(TypeState),
+		Address:     "127.0.0.1:80",
+		Version:     3,
+	}
+
+	raw, err := Encode(expect)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	recv := oldMessage{fakeMessage: newFakeMessage(TypeState)}
+	{
+		buf, ty, err := Parse(raw)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, TypeState, ty)
+
+		err = Decode(buf, &recv)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+	}
+
+	// Re-encode the message we received, but include unknown fields that
+	// oldMessage didn't recognize.
+	raw, err = Encode(recv)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	actual := newMessage{fakeMessage: newFakeMessage(TypeState)}
+	{
+		buf, ty, err := Parse(raw)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Equal(t, TypeState, ty)
+
+		err = Decode(buf, &actual)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.Len(t, actual.CodecMissingFields(), 0)
+	}
+
+	require.Equal(t, expect, actual)
+}
+
 type fakeMessage struct {
-	ty Type
+	ty            Type
+	missingFields map[string]any
+}
+
+func newFakeMessage(ty Type) fakeMessage {
+	return fakeMessage{
+		ty:            ty,
+		missingFields: make(map[string]any),
+	}
 }
 
 func (fm fakeMessage) Type() Type   { return fm.ty }
 func (fm fakeMessage) Name() string { return "" }
 func (fm fakeMessage) Cache() bool  { return false }
+
+func (fm fakeMessage) CodecMissingField(field []byte, value interface{}) bool {
+	if fm.missingFields == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	fm.missingFields[string(field)] = value
+	return true
+}
+
+func (fm fakeMessage) CodecMissingFields() map[string]interface{} { return fm.missingFields }
diff --git a/internal/messages/state.go b/internal/messages/state.go
index 25ec3a8..8f7a3f3 100644
--- a/internal/messages/state.go
+++ b/internal/messages/state.go
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ type State struct {
 	NewState peer.State
 	// Time the state was generated.
 	Time lamport.Time
+	// UnknownFields is used to store any fields that were added in newer
+	// versions of State.
+	UnknownFields map[string]any `codec:"-"`
 }
 
 // String returns the string representation of the State message.
@@ -32,3 +35,17 @@ func (s *State) Name() string { return s.NodeName }
 
 // Cache implements Message.
 func (s *State) Cache() bool { return true }
+
+// CodecMissingField registers a missing field into s.UnknownFields.
+func (s *State) CodecMissingField(field []byte, value interface{}) bool {
+	if s.UnknownFields == nil {
+		s.UnknownFields = make(map[string]interface{})
+	}
+	s.UnknownFields[string(field)] = value
+	return true
+}
+
+// CodecMissingFields returns the current set of unknown fields.
+func (s *State) CodecMissingFields() map[string]interface{} {
+	return s.UnknownFields
+}
diff --git a/node.go b/node.go
index 94e66b3..4878fd8 100644
--- a/node.go
+++ b/node.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/go-kit/log"
 	"github.com/go-kit/log/level"
-	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/codec"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/go-msgpack/v2/codec"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/memberlist"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"